The Gamer Society

In the not too distant future, most people won't need to leave their homes. Gaming companies would hire people to test their games online, people would review products from the safety of their own home, posting video and written reviews for cash. Most restaurants and shops would replace humans with AI and machines, even deliveries would be done by drones. A lot of people will spend their time video gaming in virtual reality, even going on simulated dates in an open world, computer generated environment. Everything would be done remotely, traffic would settle down dramatically as nobody will need to rush to work anymore, as they'll simply boot up their home computers at 9am instead. Working from home is possible in 2024, but it'll become standard by 2030 and most everyday workers would operate without ever needing to leave the house. At first, this would seem like a dream come true. A luxurious life where you don't have to deal with a mean boss breathing down your neck (at least not physically), one where you can work as long as you want for as much money as you want to make, from the comfort of your own bed. People would live out their free time in a selection of online worlds full of unlimited imagination, racing each other in games both realistic and hyperbolic. Shooting and punching each other in competitive battle arenas, some people would even making a fortune raking in the most entertaining kills for their audience and so forth. However the negative effects of this Gamer Society would soon begin to show cracks, as people would inevitably get lazier the longer it went on and on. Some would become obese, others would starve themselves almost to death, being addicted to their screens and VR headsets. Gaming addiction is bad enough in the 2020s, but by 2030 most people won't be able to function without the assistance of this technology! It would become so deeply ingrained into their lives, that some will even dream about living in these fake computer generated worlds and awake upset, knowing that they were nothing but false realities created in a computer! Imagine if all your achievements in life weren't accomplished in the real world, only over the internet, so that without your computer, you'd have no physical trophies or art pieces to show off the work you've created. What if everyone you knew and loved was met through a video game? Perhaps some of those you thought were real living people were actually just sophisticated video game characters, so well designed with artificial intelligence so perfect, you genuinely thought they were just as real as you or me. It could be that even this article you're reading right now is created by a computer program?! (It isn't though, trust me, AI isn't this self aware!) You'd never truly know who you're really speaking to, because you'll never meet these people eye to eye. Even in today's society, how can you even be sure who is real or fake? You might think you're speaking to a beautiful woman from Spain, but really it's a con-man from America. You're never going to know for sure, yet people would drop this wise suspicion by 2030, falling in love with animated anime girls who only existed in these sick computer worlds, ones full of bright colours so obnoxious it would give anyone living in 2024 a massive headache! Reality would seem exceptionally dull in comparison, the real world isn't full of deafening melodies and blinding colours and that's a good thing. For you see this future Gamer Society would be a nightmare of sensory overload! Like an endless nightclub, flashing lights of every shade of the rainbow, with ear bleeding music, screaming directly into your brain. The hyperactivity of this strange world would be insane, you won't have time to even think! Bang! Bang! "You're out of the game, better luck next time!" The laughing soldiers would say, as you get gunned down in a vibrant cartoon, you'll have no idea if the pixelated man who just said that was even real or not! "Too slow, you lose, fly faster next time!" The space ship pilot would yell, as your Starfighter somehow explodes despite being in space! One day you'll ask your wife a question and she won't be able to answer, then you'll scream in horror, knowing she was never even real! It will be a nightmare, one where everyone has the attention span of a fly! You'll never see the sun again or breathe fresh air, because you'll be too hooked to your computer to even think about living your home. Whole generations of children would be raised in the Gamer Society, never seeing their parents, except for in the virtual worlds that they inhabited. Soon human minds would be able to integrate into the Gamer Society completely, leaving behind their fleshy bodies for good, becoming ones with the machines! They wouldn't even scream in horror though, most would applaud this transcendence from body to computer and soon the distinction between player and NPC (Non Player Character) in these game worlds, would become Indistinguishable. Artificial intelligence and human intelligence would become one, all living in a universal computer program across the globe where nobody truly lived anymore. Instead they'd simply exist, until the power ran out and when the electricity died, so would the last of humanity. Ending not with a bang, not even a whimper, but a flash.